Minnesota SF1298 passed the Senate on April 27. Fortunately, the part of the bill making it more difficult for new parties to qualify for the ballot had been amended out of the bill on April 19.

Minnesota currently requires a group that wants to transform itself into a ballot-qualified party to submit a petition signed by 5% of the last vote cast. This petition is so difficult, it has never been used, even though it has been in existence since 1913. The law set no limit on when such a petition could start to circulate, and said it was due in July of election years. SF1298, as originally introduced, set a January 1 start date on such petitions, and moved the deadline from July to May, but those parts of the bill were deleted.